SATRA – A model Sericulture Project

SATRA – A model Sericulture Project

The iShippo team was invited to participate at the North East Craft Conclave-2017 : Guwahati from the 2nd – 4th March 2017 as a knowledge partner. The 3-day event with exhibition as well as workshops focused on the promotion of craft marketing and capacity building.

As part of the workshop, knowledge partners were taken on field visits to various craft clusters.

iShippo team visited SATRA at Sipajhar – a sericulture/weaving cluster in collaboration with RGVN and NEDFI and technical support from Central Silk Board and State Sericulture department Mangaldai. This cluster has existed since 2005-06.

Sipajhar is one of the main towns in Assam in Darrang district, 50 km away from Guwahati, capital city of Assam.

SATRA –“Social Action for Appropriate Transformation and Advancement in Rural Areas” was formed, with the motto PEOPLE FOR DEVELOPMENT, DEVELOPMENT FOR PEOPLE, by a group of Social activists of Assam in the year 2002. The activists who were from various parts of Assam province met at Sipajhar and decided to form an Organization with the view to work for the development of Society and the common people who were lagging behind in various fields from Economic to living standard.

On arrival at the SATRA center in sipajhar, we were greeted by the SATRA team and honoured with a Gamocha (Gamochais a traditional cloth made of cotton or silk with handwoven traditional designs of the Assamese people). A brief presentation was given about the organisation and how they work with the weavers of sipajhar.

Thereafter we were taken to the degumming and dyeing units where we had the chance to witness the process. Colors used for dyeing were naturally derived from organic sources such as onion peel, turmeric etc.

Degumming and Dyeing Process

Next stop on our visit was the reeling center that was installed by SATRA for the weavers.

Reeling Center

We had a chance to visit the homes of some of the weavers. These weavers had their own handmade weaving machine installed at home. It was fascinating to watch and hear them explain as to how they came up with these designs and the effort they had to put in to procure parts and create these machines.

Silk and sericulture are deep rooted in the traditions of Assam, it is a way of life fit into the socio-economic structure of the society. The main objective of SATRA project was to motivate the farmers for scientific management of the Mulberry cultivation and since then SATRA is working with the Mulberry farmers.
Most women of Sipajhar area have been have been involved in silk worm rearing and weaving for the last 100 years.
Families earning a livelihood from handloom have been weaving for generations. It’s a skill that has been passed down through generations. In most families, it’s now the third, fourth and even the fifth generation that is earning their livelihood through it.
However, due to low individual income and a time-consuming process, most of the youth are migrating to other professions. There are very few who are sticking to their family profession and trying to revive the same with the use of technology.
SATRA intervened and installed a reeling machine, in November 2016 promoting a silk producer company with 500 women members and they hope to achieve a target of 2000 women by December 2017.